Tukulti-Ninurta I

Tukulti-Ninurta I (1310 BC-1197 BC) was King of the Middle Assyrian Empire from 1233 BC to 1197 BC, succeeding Shalmaneser I and preceding Ashur-nadin-apli.

Biography
Tukulti-Ninurta was born in 1310 BC, the eldest son of Shalmaneser I. He succeeded his father as King of Assyria on his death in 1233 BC, and he defeated the Hittite king Tudhalia IV at Nihriya in the first half of his reign before appropriating Hittite territory in Anatolia and the Levant. He retained Assyrian control of Urartu and defeated the Kassite king Kashtiliash IV of Babylonia before capturing the rival city of Babylon to ensure full Assyrian supremacy over Mesopotamia. He became the first native Mesopotamian to rule over Babylon, as the previous kings had all been Amorites or Kassites; he demolished Babylon's walls, massacred many of its inhabitants, and pillaged and plundered the city, even stealing the statue of Marduk. After capturing Babylonia, he invaded the Arabian Peninsula and conquered two of the pre-Arab states. He then defended his possessions by defeating the Elamites, who had coveted Babylon, and he sacrilegiously raided and plundered the temples in Babylon after crushing a Babylonian revolt. Tukulti-Ninurta took on Sargon of Akkad's ancient title "King of Sumer and Akkad" as a boost to his prestige, and he proceeded to build a new capital city, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, as relations with the priests in Assur declined. His sons rebelled against him and besieged him in his new city, killing him in battle and taking over the throne.